2x512 MB @ nForce2 - problems, problems and problems...

[DoNuT]

hi guys,

i recently tried to improve my gaming performance in newer games like BF2 by upgrading my system's memory...

i'm running a quite old rig - Abit NF7-S Rev. 2.0

at this point i had the problem of getting the "perfect" RAM for my system - some people in different communitys had the opinion that newer chips like TCCDs aren't suitable for this issue....

hmmm, okay - my first try were OCZ EL PC3200 with UTT BH-5 chips - after a few memtest runs it was clear - not even stable results at 200 MHz with 2-2-2-11 timings and 1T-setting (D26 Mantaray XT) - at 2T at least 210 MHz were running stable (superpi, memtest, prime95 blend and a few bf2-sessions), but i wasn't satisfied with my OCZ modules...

for this reason i started getting information again - next try were some oldschool Infineon PC2700 with famous 6-A, but the results were similar

memtest was running for approx. 50 minutes (2-2-2-11-1T, 3V) until the first errors appeared (superpi even reported errors after 1-2 minutes) - i tried VDD between 1,5 and 1,7V, active cooling provided by a 92mm fan placed in front of the memory slots and finally slot 1+3 and 2+3 placement of the modules...

at this point i'm getting quite depressive - does anybody have tips for me except buying a A64 system?

don't mind my poor english and thanks in advance,
DoNuT

[RyderOCZ]

In my experience with my DFI NF2 system....the TCCx chips are the way to go....low voltage and good clockability. The TCCx chips won't hold tight 2-2-2 timings...mine ran great all the way to 250 at 2.5-3-3-11 though

Do you still have your OCZ golds? did you try 2-3-2-11? it might get you farther.

CAS = 2 and tRCD = 2 with the NF2 don't like each other a lot....unless you have some "Classic" BH-5 chips....the newer BH die chips, just don't run as well on NF2 like the old ones did.

Hope that helps

[Vincentvega18]

I was under the impression utt/tccx arent particularly good on nf2 systems??

[Rhymers]

I don't have a lot of experience with Bh-5 based memory but I use the TCCD stuff from my signature and it's doin fine, but my CPU can't go too high but 2-2-2-11 (1T) are running just fine up to about 420mhz and as far as I heard other TCCD stuff aswell is doin great on NF2.
Regards, Rhymers

[DoNuT]

i heard from another forum that UTTs are running quite ty on NF7 - nobody reached more than 210-215 MHz @ 1T - for this reason i tried the Infineons which are making troubles with CPC on, too...

at the moment i'm trying slow timings (2,5-3-3-11) with 1T, but i would be surprised if anything changes... about 3,0V should be enough to get stable 200 MHz with Infineon 6-A, or not? i think, the problem is rather the board (or chipset) than the overclockability of the memory sticks... unfortunately i have no second platform for testing, but i'm sure they would perform better on another system without nforce2...

[Punisher!]

TCCD rocks even on NForce2:

@2,6V:

[[XC] moddolicous]

Yea, people also had problems using utt on dothan setups. That may be a reason y 18's wasnt broken on dothan, because people couldnt use redline @ like 270 for their spi runs. It looks like tccd may be your best bet.

[jumanji969]

NF2 just doesnt like 512mb modules, most the time you have to run 2t and even then its still a gamble to see if you can get high fsb.

[uwackme]

The REAL stuff actually does fine, UTT-CH... the REAL "VX" stuff does 240Mhz @ 3.2V on a Vmod'd NF7-S. It does 250-255Mhz on Vmod'd DFI Infinity as well @3.45V, all at 8,2,2,2.0 1T.

Also, the Mushkin 1G sticks I found run 235Mhz 1T on NF2 @ 2.8V...

Mushkin 1G at NewEgg

... at 11,3,3,2.5 timings. 235x11 on 2600+ is pretty damn sweet with 2Gigs of ram.

[DoNuT]

okay, at least 2,5-3-3-11 timings are running well on 1T, now i'm trying to lower them a bit, because it may be faster than 210-215 MHz with 2T and better timings

@ punisher: are your TCCDs running with 1T?

should i start another try by getting TDDC?

[Exa.bit]

My new TCCD is running great in my NF2 board. This is a stock AN7 with AN7DE8 bios.

[Punisher!]

okay, at least 2,5-3-3-11 timings are running well on 1T, now i'm trying to lower them a bit, because it may be faster than 210-215 MHz with 2T and better timings

@ punisher: are your TCCDs running with 1T?

Of course. 1T!

[gsan]

you got the same fate as mine!

[DoNuT]

okay, new results of these bastards below this text:



at least 2,5-3-2-11-1T @ 200 mhz seems to be memtest stable...



let's see what changes with 2,5-2-2-11, and if these settings are even stable in superpi - as mentioned: it reacts much more sensible than memtest)

*edit* don't ask me why, but i tried a slot 2+3-setup again and suddenly i got a stable superpi 32m run with 1T and faster timings - now i'm only checking stability with memtest which was much more tolerant in the aspect of time of appearance of the first errors....

[freeagent]

You should try the bios in my sig, it works great, tho my ram wont do 2-2-2-x.

[DoNuT]

thx, i'll...

i hope i works better than mantarays d26, which was recommended by several users.....

[freeagent]

Tbh.. No offence to anyone.. d26mantaray diddnt work well for me at all It was one of the first ones i tried. But i did like the vcore control, and the layout of softmenu. I also had some good luck with d26_EDc18R1, but i settled with my current one because it made this board come to life, and it actually clocks higher with cpu interface disabled

[DoNuT]

hmmm, i don't know - i seems to me as if there's no difference between D26 mantaray and the other one recommended above...

next point is, that only battlefield two showed stability problems - i had a 4 hour test#5 run in memtest and about 8 hours in prime95 with memory stressing settings... and superpi 32m passed through as already mentioned above....

[freeagent]

Did you try relaxing your timeings at all? because i couldnt get these results with mantarays

[gsan]

Did you try relaxing your timeings at all? because i couldnt get these results with mantarays

are you using D27 619R2 ? 1T or 2T ?

[freeagent]

1T, thats why i have everest open, thats the only thing i could think of that would show what im at heheh.

[DoNuT]

yes, i tried "relaxed" timings, but the result was the same....

2,5-3-2-11 crashed back to desktop although it passed a 11-hour-memtest run - if you can trust in that tool

btw.: @freeagent: 10 for the last value is quite slow for nforce2 or not?
why aren't you using 11 for Tras?

[freeagent]

I was just experimenting at the time, its at 11 now And this ram only like to be run at cas 2.5 when i get to 248-252 fsb, i can run all of the suites in pcmark04 tat 250x10, but cant prime, and fails memtest, so i think this is pretty much the limit of the board., I havent done the L-12 mod yet, i figured since i was stable at 240, that i woudnt need it. Also ive tried running at 2T, but this thing gets crazy unstable at any fsb

[TMM]

UTT no good with the NF7? I had my 2x512 UTT-BH (Corsair) running fine (prime95 stable) at 220mhz, 2-2-2-5 in my NF7-S rev2.0 ... single channel though. My board hates anything dual channel over 220~ fsb. the difference is so small though, that a few mhz higher in single channel is faster anyway.

[freeagent]

single channel faster than dual? doubtful.. you have tight timeings, but... dual channel owns.